Big East Refs Screw-Up Gives Me A Teachable Moment (VIDEO)

You can find something to learn while watching almost anything on TV. I've learned how to make fire on Survivor. I've been enlightened as to the many ways of a body may decompose on Bones. Last night's Big East Tournament game between St. John's and Rutgers is no different.

I learned that the refs have to stay on the court and officiate until the buzzer buzzes ending the game. I kinda already knew that, but when three officials basically stopped working with about 3 seconds left in the game, it really hit home.

These three refs screwed up with a capital S and U. They blew two calls, mainly because it seemed like they were in a hurry to end the game. It was as if they had a bus to catch. Just plain wackadoo. Did they get in trouble? Not quite. They voluntarily withdrew from working the rest of the tournament.

Yup, the three refs -- Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Earl Walton -- went to the naughty bench and gave themselves a time-out.

Here's the scoop: a St. John's Justin Brownlee stepped out of bounds with 1.7 seconds left on the clock and then proceeded to throw the ball in the air celebrating their win. But the refs didn't call him out of bounds. They didn't give him a technical for throwing the ball. No, they just left.

Big no-no. These calls would have given Rutgers another possession. The fact that the final score was 65-63 means Rutgers may have tied it. Who knows. Obviously, Rutgers fans, players, coaches are peeved. The Big East Tournament head honchos are none to pleased. Many are calling for the refs to be punished further.

Now, not only am I thinking I learned something, I'm seeing a teachable moment taking shape! I think I can teach my kiddo something here. I can show her how these guys made some mistakes -- pretty big mistakes -- and they knew they did something wrong. So what did they do? They took responsibility for their big whopping mess.

Last night, I learned that refs have to work the whole game and I got a teachable moment! All from watching TV. Gotta love it!